As someone who grew up in the Detroit area, I’ll be the first to admit that I have been taking tremendous pleasure in the woes of Toyota recently. It is nice to see the idolized Toyota on the ropes for a change. And when I read about the Runaway Prius the other day, I simply [...]
Posts Tagged ‘cars’
Life, Liberty and Highway Rest Stops
There is a reason that James Madison did not guarantee access to a free toilet in the Bill of Rights. It is because in 1789, despite recently winning independence from a brutal colonial Empire, no one could imagine a regime so oppressive that it would charge people to use the bathroom.
But of course it was [...]
Now the NYT wants to ban billboards too [distracted driving]
Not content merely to fear monger about the immanent national threat posed by motorists who chat on their cell phone, the New York Times has decided to take on a new bogyman: electronic billboards.
From the New York Times:
Safety advocates who worry about the dangers of distracted driving have a new concern beyond cellphones and gadget-laden dashboards: digital roadside billboards.
These high-tech billboards marry the glow [...]
Texting ban moves forward in Michigan [cell phones]
Free Refills reader John sent in word the other day that the Michigan legislature is moving ahead with a texting-while-driving ban. This is despite the fact that a recent study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that such bans have no impact whatsoever on safety.
Here is the rundown, courtesy of MIRS.
Texting a message [...]
Taunting the competition with negative ads [video]
Negative ads—particularly the corporate variety—are delightful. But what is better than an ad that smears the competition? An ad that simply taunts the competition, like this new one from Audi that is running during the Olympic broadcasts.*
Email subscribers may need to click through to see the video
*Yes, Audi is a German company, but its [...]
Cell phones aren’t dangerous, toddlers are.
For months I’ve been saying that when it comes to distracted driving, passengers—crying children, in particular—pose a greater accident risk than cell phones. That is why I proposed banning carpooling.
It seems that others are finally catching on. Today the Consumer Reports blog ran a post about how dangerous diving with kids can be and the [...]
This is where I draw the line [distracted driving]
Regular readers of this blog know that I am very skeptical of schemes to ban the use of cell phones in cars. After all, there is little reason to believe that using a cell phone while driving is any more distracting than, say, adjusting confusing radio controls or driving around with a car full of [...]
Give it cupholders and I’ll take it [Americanization]
America, they say, is a melting pot. We welcome foreign people and products to our shores with open arms (particularly if they are sleek, Asian-manufactured electronic products).
But is America really ready to embrace a $3,000 Indian “People Car” which gives new meaning to the terms “sub-compact” and “bare bones?” TBM’s Matthew DeBord thinks so—provided that [...]
Free parking in NYC? There’s an app for that.
What better example of the American entrepreneurial spirit than the iPhone app store. In the year or so that it has been open, tens of thousands of Americans have have come up clever programs to solve almost all of life’s little problems.
Many of these apps—particularly the navigation ones— have been literally life changing for their [...]
Wireless internet while driving [GM is not dead]
The proliferation of the smart phone has dramatically increased our behind-the-wheel productivity. Now we can not only make phone calls while driving, but also text, check stock quotes and email as well.
But despite their utility, smart phones are not computers. Things like word processing, data entry and true web surfing still require the full-size screen [...]
